Rilke's Von Den Fontänen (About Fountains 雷亞爾克的『噴泉點滴』)

I read one of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems last night. According to the Wikipedia, René Karl Wilhem Johan Josef Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and one of its most significant. He is considered as a transitional figure between traditional romantic poetry and modernist poetry, writing both verse and a lyrical prose about solitude, reminiscence, the difficulties of communication, the landscape of the unconscious, excursions into myth, history and religion. He is best known for his Duino Elegies and his 400 French poems and Letters to a Young Poet and and the semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.

     Von den Fontänen                                           About the Fountains                             噴泉點滴

Auf einmal weiß ich viel von den Fontäen,   Suddenly I know a lot about  fountains     我忽然對噴泉知得多了

den unbegreiflichen Bäumen aus Glas.          those incomprehenible trees of glass       那些令人費解的玻璃樹。     

Ich könnte reden wie von eignen Tränen,      I could talk now as of my own tears,        我談它們如同談我自已的淚水

die ich, ergriffen von sehr großen Träumen, which I, gripped by such fantastic dreaming,  由於全被這神奇的夢想吸引著

einmal vergeudete und dann vergaß.      spilled once and then  forgot    故我一擠出它們後便把它們忘掉。 .            

 

Vergaß ich denn, daß Himmel Hände reichen Could I then forget the heavens reaching its hands  我能忘記天堂插手

zu vielen Dingen und in da Gedränge?          toward many things and into this commotion?  入一切及這騷動嗎？

Sah ich nicht immer Großheit ohnegleichen    Did I not always see unrivaled greatness   我不是在熱切期盼夜温柔而正

im Augsteig alter Parke, vor den weichen in the ascent of old parks before the soft上升中的古老花園中看見其無敵之雄偉

erwartungsvollen Abenden,--in bleichen          expectant evenings--in pale chants                -----從某些少女

aus fremden Mädchen steigenden Gesängen,    rising from unknown girls                           蒼白無力的頌曲之

die überfließen aus der Melodie                     and overflowing from the melody                  旋律溢出

und wirklich werden und als müßten sie         and becoming real, and as if they must be       如幻如真猶若

sich spiegeln in den aufgetanen Teichen?        mirrored in the opened ponds?                      露天池塘之鏡影？

 

Ich muß mich nur erinnern an das Alles        Had I reminded myself of all                  一旦我提醒自已  

was an Fontänen und an mir geschah,--   that happened both to the fountains and to me 在噴泉及自身所發生的--- 切

dann fûhl ich auch die Last des Niederfalles, then I feel too the heaviness of the descent,   我便感覺墮下之重量

in welcher ich die Wasser widersah:              where I saw the waters again:                   在哪我再與水相遇

Und weiß von Zweigen, die sich abwätyd wandten, and know of branches that bent downwards,發現那些向下彎身的樹枝

von Stimmen, die mit kleiner Flamme brannten, of voices that burned with small flames, 那些如燃燒中小火舌般的聲音，

von Teichen, welche nur die Uferkanten           of ponds that dim witted,shunned,          那些弱智地不停及永在逃避

schwachsinnig und verschoben wiederholten, their sharp-edged banks repeatedly endlessly ;陡峭險峻河岸的敞開的池塘

von Abendhimmeln, welche von verkohlten    of evening skies, which from charred western forests 那些對著西邊燒焦的森林

westlichen Wäldern ganz entfremdet traten,    stepped back totally bewildered,                   惘然卻步

sich anders wölbten, dunkelen und taten         arched differently, darkened and acted       不同方式拱背，臉色下沉而

als wär das nicht die Welt, die sie gemeint...    as if this were not the world they had envisioned...好像這不是他們夢見的世界般行事。

 

Vergaß ich deen, daß Stern bei Stern versteint Could I forget that flanking star starting to harden 我能忘卻那星旁星開始堅硬起來

und sich verschließt gegen die Nachbargloben? and shuts itself from its neighboring globe?         而不望毗都他的地球？

Daß sich die Welten nur noch wie verweingt  That the worlds in space only recognized each other 忘卻太空的世界彷怱只能

im Raum erkennen?--Vielleicht sind wir oben, as if through tears?--Perhaps we are above  透過眼淚相誌？---也許我們在

in Himmel andrer Wesern eingewoben,            the woven skies of other beings            其他生物所編織的天空上

die zu uns aufschaun abends. Vielleicht loben who turn their gaze toward us at evening. Perhaps their他們在黄昏時凝視我們。也許

uns ihre Dichter. Vielleicht beten viele           poets praise us. Perhaps some of them    他們的詩人稱頌我們。也許他們中有人

zu uns empor. Vielleicht sind wir die Ziele   pray up towards us. Perhaps we are the target  向我們祈禱。  也許我們是

von fremden Flüchen, die uns nie errichen,    of strange curses that never reach us,  那些從未達我的奇異詛咒的標靶

Nachbaren eines Gottes, den sie meinen        neigbors of a god whom they envision  當他們獨自在我們的高處哭泣

in unsrer Höhe, wenn sie einsam weinen, in our heights when they weep alone, 他們想像自已成為他們預見之神的鄰居

an den sie glauben und den sie verlieren,    whom they believe in and whom they lose,  他們所信之及失去

und dessen Bildnis, wie ein sChein aus ihren  and whose image, like a gleam from their 而他們的形像，猶一從他們尋找燈下發出的光芒

suchenden Lampen, flüchtig und verweht,        seeking lamps, fleeting and then gone,    稍縱即逝

über unsere zerstreuten Gesichter geht...          passes over our scattered faces.            照著我們菆開的臉龐。..

Rilke was born in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, then a part of Czechoslovakia, same as Kafka. His father was a railroad official after an unsuccessful military career and his mother came from a rich family. Rilke's childhood was unhappy because his mother was obsessed by mourning Rilke's elder sister who died just one week after birth. She would dress Rilke as a girl but his father wanted a military career for him and thus enrolled him in a military academy from 1886 until  1891, when he was forced to leave due to illness after which he studied literature, art history and philosophy in Prague and Munich. Then in 1897, he fell in love with a married woman of letters Lou Andreas-Salomé, who had trained as a psychoanalyst with Freud and he travelled twice to Russia with her, the first time with her husband but the second time without. The relationship broke off in 1900 but she continued to be his confidante until his death and shared her knowledge of the human psyche with him. In his first trip to Russia in 1899, Rilke met Tolstoy and in his second, he met Boris Pasternak and Spiridon Droghzhin, a peasant poet.

In the autumn of 1900, he stayed at an artists' colony at Worpswde where he met a woman sculptor Clara Westhoff whom he married in 1901 and in the same year, his daughter Ruth was born. The following year, Rilke went to Paris where he wrote a monograph on the sculptor Auguste Rodin, and acted for a time as his secretary. From Rodin he learned the need for objecitvity in art and began to use the word in his own writing as if it were a tool for painting an image, instead of using them as incantation and other more directly subjective purposes. It was during his stay in Paris that he wrote the Neue Gedichte (New Poems)( 1907), Der Neuen Gedichte Anderer Teil (Another Part of the New Poems)( 1908) and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (1904-1910). 

 1902–1910

Paula Modersohn-Becker. Rainer Maria Rilke, 1906

Between October 1911 and May 1912, Rilke stayed at the Castle Duino, near Trieste, home of Countess Marie of Thurn und Taxis, where he started the Duino Elegies and which would remain unfinished for a decade because of a long-lasting creativity crisis.Then he got stuck in Munich when the WWI broke out and was unable to return to Paris, where for political reasons, his property was confiscated and auctioned. From 1914 to 1916 he had a turbulent affair with the painter Lou Albert-Lasard.  Rilke was called up at the beginning of 1916, and he had to undertake basic training in Vienna. Influential friends interceded on his behalf, and he was transferred to the War Records Office and discharged from the military on 9 June 1916. He spent the subsequent time once again in Munich. The traumatic experience of military service, a reminder of the horrors of the military academy, almost completely silenced him as a poet.

On 11 June 1919, Rilke traveled from Munich to the commune of Veyras in Valais, Switzerland., and established himself rent free at his patron Werner Reinhart's Chateau de Muzot, where he quickly completed his Duino within several weeks in February 1922. Before and after that, Rilke rapidly wrote both parts of the poem cycle Sonnets to Orpheus, considered by many to be his greatest works. During this time, Reinhart introduced Rilke to his protégée, the Australian violinist Alma Moodie. He died of Leukemia in December 1926.

Rilke's grave

Rilke had chosen as his own epitaph this poem:

Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch, Lust, Niemandes Schlaf zu sein unter soviel Lidern.

Rose, oh pure contradiction, delight    of being no one's sleep under so    many lids.

A myth developed surrounding his death and roses, which we see as a constant motif in his work. It was said: "To honour a visitor, the Egyptian beauty Nimet Eloui, Rilke [had] gathered some roses from his garden. While doing so, he pricked his hand on a thorn. This small wound failed to heal, grew rapidly worse, soon his entire arm was swollen, and his other arm became affected as well", and so he died.

Volumes of poetry

• Leben und Lieder (Life and Songs) (1894)
  
• Larenopfer (Lares' Sacrifice) (1895)
  
• Traumgekrönt (Dream-Crowned) (1897)
  
• Advent (Advent) (1898)
  
• Mir zur Feier (To me Only Celebration) (1909)
  
• Das Stunden-Buch (The Book of Hours)
  
  
  
  • Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben (The Book of Monastic Life) (1899)
    
  • Das Buch von der Pilgerschaft (The Book of Pilgrimage) (1901)
    
  • Das Buch von der Armut und vom Tode (The Book of Poverty and Death) (1903)
  
  
• Das Buch der Bilder (The Book of Images) (4 Parts, 1902–1906)
  
• Neue Gedichte (New Poems) (1907)
  
• Duineser Elegien (Duino Elegies) (1922)
  
• Sonette an Orpheus (Sonnets to Orpheus) (1922)

In the poem, I think Rilke is discreetly talking about the instrument of his love by employing the fountain as a symbol. He may or may not have been influenced by his understanding of Freudian psychology which he acquired through his lover Lou Andreas-Salomé. The references to things being forgotten once they are squeezed out, the little inflamed voices, the arched back, the forests, the ascent and the descent,  the water, the opened pond, steep banks it encounters, the stars meeting in tears, the light under the lamps, the tenderness of the night all suggest such amorous activities inside a certain bed chamber.